[dbrija]

Are the deluxe stand feet rigid, or is there a pivot (think C-clamp). Reason I ask is my garage floor has a slope, and I want to have the mill truly level. Way I see it, if the feet are rigid, part of all of the feet will have no contact with the floor.

Anyone else run into this, and how did you solve it? Am I worrying for no reason?

What is the thread for the feet? McMaster and others have a good selection of these type of things. Just need to know what to look for thread wise.

Thanks!
Danny Brija

[tonyaimer]

Greetings

The tormach feet have scewed threads and no "ball action".

The floor in my old flying dutchman boat shed ( which became the CNC workshed ) had a sloping floor for drainage and I did not want to level it out.

I cut thin wedges of 120mm Aluminium to take ou the slope and but in a 3mm piece of mouse pad belt to take out the uneveness.

My wedges were four different thicknesses as the floor fell in two directions.

I have attached some photos

Regards

Tony Aimer

[bevinp]

And if you make those pads about 1.5" tall, you will have no problem running a pallet trolley under the stand during installation and subsequently when you need to move the mill again. It seems that almost everyone has.

[wbleeker]

I have only recently got my PCNC1100 and have had no trouble using a pallet jack to move it with the standard feet on it.
Will

[zephyr9900]

Will and bevinp, the problem isn't with the pallet jack. It's with the engine/shop crane when lifting the machine onto the base.

Danny, you don't want to make the base level. What you want to do is tilt the base to the left, in an amount where the tilt brings the center of gravity of the column/head/electronics cabinet over the centroid of the column mounting bolts to negate the bending moment of the off-center mass which deflects the Z axis.

But seriously, I intentionally tilted my base about 1/4" to the left to better drain coolant into the return screen. What is really important is to have the mill mounting pads coplanar, and not necessarily horizontal.

My own disappointment is with the cheap-o rubber my Series I foot pads are made from. Not coolant-resistant (even water-based) and stuck badly to the floor in my last garage/workshop. For the new installation I bought some cheap polypropylene bowls to put under the feet (and hopefully catch leaked coolant that wicks down to the feet before it runs out onto the floor).

Randy

[dbrija]

Will and bevinp, the problem isn't with the pallet jack. It's with the engine/shop crane when lifting the machine onto the base.

Danny, you don't want to make the base level. What you want to do is tilt the base to the left, in an amount where the tilt brings the center of gravity of the column/head/electronics cabinet over the centroid of the head mounting bolts to negate the bending moment of the off-center mass which deflects the Z axis.

But seriously, I intentionally tilted my base about 1/4" to the left to better drain coolant into the return screen. What is really important is to have the mill mounting pads coplanar, and not necessarily horizontal.

My own disappointment is with the cheap-o rubber my Series I foot pads are made from. Not coolant-resistant (even water-based) and stuck badly to the floor in my last garage/workshop. For the new installation I bought some cheap polypropylene bowls to put under the feet (and hopefully catch leaked coolant that wicks down to the feet before it runs out onto the floor).

Randy

Oh man... The floor slopes to the right. Guess I should rip out the new 220V and air lines I finished over the holidays and move it all to the opposite side of the garage for the required leftward slope

[zephyr9900]

Guess I should rip out the new 220V and air lines I finished over the holidays...

Next time ask before you build.

Randy

[bevinp]

Randy,
Have you determined where the CofG of the mill is located? It makes sense that ideally the CofG should be aligned over the centre of the mounting feet (of the mill on the stand), but I wonder if the offset of the CofG from the ideal position is sufficient to cause a problem in head alignment. I guess that it would be very unusual for the mill to cut a vertical face more that 4" and over that distance, any affect of CofG offset would be negligible. Do you have any figures?

I too have set my mill about 0.5" high on the right to better drain the coolant. In doing this I noticed that the casting of the table tee-slots has a slope down to the right to enhance coolant draining through the table drain hole. I decided to block the existing hole and drill another drain hole in the rear wall of the table at the lefthand end. I made the size to suit a rubber hose (about 5/8" OD) and tied the other end to the handle of the chip tray over the stand drain. I now can have near flood coolant flow without the standard Deluxe stand tank running dry. I will replace that tank, one of these days ...

Danny,
I would not undo your wiring or change the planned layout of your shop. It really does not matter that the pads you will make for the stand feet will have significantly different height. Randy is right that it is more important to have the pads on the top of the stand coplanar. I found that the pads on my stand were out by about 1/8" and I put a metal plate on that pad. The Tormach supplied rubber gaskets should handle the minor differences that remained. Also I don't have the securing nuts tight.

Will,
If the new stand has clearance for pallet jacks then that is just another example of Tormach continuously improving their products (my mill is Series 1). Tormach really does focus on high quality products and excellent customer service. You made the right decision.
Bevin

[dbrija]

Randy,
Have you determined where the CofG of the mill is located? It makes sense that ideally the CofG should be aligned over the centre of the mounting feet (of the mill on the stand), but I wonder if the offset of the CofG from the ideal position is sufficient to cause a problem in head alignment. I guess that it would be very unusual for the mill to cut a vertical face more that 4" and over that distance, any affect of CofG offset would be negligible. Do you have any figures?

I too have set my mill about 0.5" high on the right to better drain the coolant. In doing this I noticed that the casting of the table tee-slots has a slope down to the right to enhance coolant draining through the table drain hole. I decided to block the existing hole and drill another drain hole in the rear wall of the table at the lefthand end. I made the size to suit a rubber hose (about 5/8" OD) and tied the other end to the handle of the chip tray over the stand drain. I now can have near flood coolant flow without the standard Deluxe stand tank running dry. I will replace that tank, one of these days ...

Danny,
I would not undo your wiring or change the planned layout of your shop. It really does not matter that the pads you will make for the stand feet will have significantly different height. Randy is right that it is more important to have the pads on the top of the stand coplanar. I found that the pads on my stand were out by about 1/8" and I put a metal plate on that pad. The Tormach supplied rubber gaskets should handle the minor differences that remained. Also I don't have the securing nuts tight.

Will,
If the new stand has clearance for pallet jacks then that is just another example of Tormach continuously improving their products (my mill is Series 1). Tormach really does focus on high quality products and excellent customer service. You made the right decision.
Bevin

I was only kidding about changing the layout. :cheers:

[Magnum164]

Will and bevinp, the problem isn't with the pallet jack. It's with the engine/shop crane when lifting the machine onto the base.

Danny, you don't want to make the base level. What you want to do is tilt the base to the left, in an amount where the tilt brings the center of gravity of the column/head/electronics cabinet over the centroid of the column mounting bolts to negate the bending moment of the off-center mass which deflects the Z axis.

But seriously, I intentionally tilted my base about 1/4" to the left to better drain coolant into the return screen. What is really important is to have the mill mounting pads coplanar, and not necessarily horizontal.

My own disappointment is with the cheap-o rubber my Series I foot pads are made from. Not coolant-resistant (even water-based) and stuck badly to the floor in my last garage/workshop. For the new installation I bought some cheap polypropylene bowls to put under the feet (and hopefully catch leaked coolant that wicks down to the feet before it runs out onto the floor).

Randy

that is the first hoist I have seen that does not have support casters on the legs, basically at where the orange and black legs meet. Mine is exactly the same, but has casters midway for support as well as moving around stowed. Looks like in your pic it was bowing just a little.

[twocik]

My rubber pads fell off two of my feet and had to use glue to get them to stay. I'd be interested in better feet as an upgrade if Tormach or another company offered them.... I'm just glad we're talking about little things like this and not the machine, electronics, etc... Tormach does an awesome job and they only have a few little things that could be adjusted.

My last space had a slope to the floor and I had to add 1/4" plates of aluminum to the front part of the machine. I also adjusted the feet on the right side a little higher so that the coolant would drain better. One thing I noticed when tramming the mill the second time was my front right needed more shims to level everything out.

This might be a fix to help with the flow of coolant and eliminate the deflection/adjustment to the stand, would be some sort of catch pan with a hose that would shoot the coolant under the machine back into the pan might work (mainly the right side of the machine).

[Don Clement]

Although I just machined solid spacers for in addition to the standard feet that came with my Tormach PCNC1100 I made these outriggers for my 12x36 lathe using 3" diameter spherically coupled feet. The spherically feet allowed for the tilt in the floor and also made adjusting the twist in the lathe bed easier. Also the wider stance of the outriggers made the lathemuch more stable.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../lathefeet.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lathefeet2.jpg

Don

[dbrija]

I'm just glad we're talking about little things like this and not the machine, electronics, etc...

That is so true.

[dbrija]

Haven't looked too many places yet, but might go with something like McMaster-Carr in the M12x1.75 and make some spacers for them.

[Magnum164]

I'm just glad we're talking about little things like this and not the machine, electronics, etc... Tormach does an awesome job and they only have a few little things that could be adjusted.

Agreed.. For me the feet were the weak link on tramming my mill. After replacing them I have had no trouble. I think my problem is the pads stuck to the floor due to some glue residue from the flooring I had to remove for the machine (wood). So not all Tormach's fault, I decided to replace all 4 legs and wish I had the suggestion to setup for coolant flow first then tram machine.

[neal.sprouse]

I do not have a Tormach yet, but I have found these very useful on other projects:

Foot Master® Top Plate and Stem Leveling Casters

McMaster has them in both stem and plate versions:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#leveling-casters/=aibfv7

Not cheap, but very good.

[dbrija]

I do not have a Tormach yet, but I have found these very useful on other projects:

Foot Master® Top Plate and Stem Leveling Casters

McMaster has them in both stem and plate versions:

McMaster-Carr

Not cheap, but very good.

Thanks for that link. I have looked at McMaster and found the leveling feet, but didn't spot these. I like the idea of being able to level the mill, and to be able to move it seems ideal. $58 each seems reasonable, and they come in the needed M12 thread.

[Magnum164]

Thanks for that link. I have looked at McMaster and found the leveling feet, but didn't spot these. I like the idea of being able to level the mill, and to be able to move it seems ideal. $58 each seems reasonable, and they come in the needed M12 thread.

Unless you are building a special stand, you will want to find levels with a 1/2-13 stud for the Tormach stand. Any other kind of mounting and you may have to do some beefing up in the stands corners.

That being said I do wish I could move mine around, but a pallet jack would do the same now that it's installed.

[dbrija]

Unless you are building a special stand, you will want to find levels with a 1/2-13 stud for the Tormach stand. Any other kind of mounting and you may have to do some beefing up in the stands corners.

That being said I do wish I could move mine around, but a pallet jack would do the same now that it's installed.

I had a look at the assembly instructions for the 1100 deluxe stand, and it was calling out M12 hardware for the feet. I will confirm that before I buy anything. The casters come in a 1/2-13 as well, so I am covered.

Can somebody confirm the thread for the 1100 deluxe stand feet?

[Magnum164]

I had a look at the assembly instructions for the 1100 deluxe stand, and it was calling out M12 hardware for the feet. I will confirm that before I buy anything. The casters come in a 1/2-13 as well, so I am covered.

Can somebody confirm the thread for the 1100 deluxe stand feet?

That may be true, I was thinking about the 770, not sure if the feet are the same. I didn't catch your M12, which is probably the same for a 1/2 thread. I replaced the the stud as well.